Abstract
•Methane decomposition over hydrotalcite-derived Ni-Fe-Cu-based catalysts was studied.•Taguchi method-based L9 experimental design was used to optimize the catalyst composition.•The variation of Fe metal wt.% has the highest impact on catalyst performance.•The optimized catalyst showed a methane conversion of 88.1% at 600 °C.•Catalyst's quality was improved by 30% after the implementation Taguchi experiment.
The optimization of hydrotalcite-derived Ni-Fe-Cu-based tri-metallic catalyst for methane catalytic decomposition has been studied using the Taguchi method. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array consisting of four design factors and one response was considered in the optimization study. The catalysts were thoroughly characterized using various techniques like XRD, BET, H2-TPR, FE-SEM, TGA/DTG, and Raman spectroscopy. The optimization study results revealed that the methane decomposition catalyst's performance and the nature of deposited carbon depend on the catalyst's composition. Both graphitic and carbon nanotubes have been deposited in spent catalysts. The diameter of carbon nanotubes formed over the catalyst depends mainly on the Ni loading. The optimal reaction conditions were found to be 14 wt.% Ni loading, 2 wt.% Fe loading, 2 wt.% Cu loading and 700 °C of calcination temperature. The catalyst performance quality was increased by around 30% at optimal conditions after implementing the Taguchi experiment.
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